There were as many as nine teams that start-and-parked during a Cup race last season. That is 21 percent of the field.

“That’s a disservice to our sport,” Smith said. “We’re in the racing business. We’re not in the start-and-park business. You could shorten the field in order to stop this.

“It has got to be stopped. … I think it’s a joke. It’s a joke for the race fans that a car comes out there and runs five laps or 15 laps and parks.”

Some teams start-and-park to make money while others use it as a means to try to eventually have enough money to race. The idea of only running 10 laps and earning money — at Texas in November, Reed Sorenson ran six laps and took home $89,561 for Humphrey Smith Racing — has grown on the track promoter’s nerves.

Smith advocated paying the finishers in the rear of the field less money and giving more to the winner.

That will be done at the rear of the Cup field this year with about a $4,000 separation for each spot from 39th-43rd, compared with about a hundred dollars separation in the past.

“It hopefully will create some incentive to run more,” said NASCAR Vice President for Racing Operations Jim Cassidy. “But at the end of the day, we have a great group of owners out there that are racers but at the same time a varying level of resources.”

Cassidy said getting rid of the top-35 rule will help by having seven spots available in the field based on owner points for those not in the top 36 in qualifying. That will create more incentive to race because, he said.

NASCAR also is cutting the field in the Nationwide Series from 43 teams to 40.

Cassidy said it is not easy to build up a team, and that every team that comes in meets the same rules requirements.

“One of the good things about NASCAR is it is not an elitist club,” Cassidy said.

“It is a professional sport that on the ownership side is open to anyone. … For the most part, everybody is out there to race as much as they can, and that is what they are doing. Some teams are developing in a way that they’re doing it within their means.”

NASCAR does tear down one of the start-and-park cars each weekend, an inspection procedure that is so thorough that it costs teams money to have their engine rebuilt.

“For the good of the sport, we’ve got to do (something),” Smith said. “I’m not going to use the word fraud but I guess you could. It’s a joke and that’s what we’ve got to face. I don’t think it is good for the sport.

“It’s strictly up to them (at NASCAR) to do something about it. It’s something that I think they’ve been reluctant to go at.”

Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said that start-and-park drivers took in approximately $17 million in Cup winnings last year.

“When you add up the Cup, the Nationwide and the Truck series start-and-park money, it is just an inexplicable number that they can justify,” Gossage said.

“If a start-and-parker brought something to the program, that'd be one thing, but when they're in the garage in less than 10 minutes, they're not adding to the competition.… Just for the sake of legitimate competition, you have got to fix this. How do you explain this to somebody that has never been around our sport before?”